For everyone who thinks water changes solves trace elements

[duke62]

I've seen people on here saying they don't test and their 10 to 20 percent water changes per week puts in whatever trace elements they need watch this from macna
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=LPs1WCdW4y4

 

[Tonyscoots84]

i couldn't watch it, his english is horrible. Wish i could of because i would of loved to hear what he had to say....

 

[duke62]

Tony give it a shot it's real informative

 

[lnevo]

Same as for calcium and alkalinity...you get to a point where consumption will exceed replenishment from water changes. The only way around that is 100% water change otherwise your always diluting.

This article by Randy Holmes-Farley explains it perfectly.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/

 

[prattreef]

The testing is interesting and possibly great, but the presentation was among the worst at MACNA. You'll be hearing A LOT about this "new method" in the coming weeks as it is about to be unleashed in the States any day now.

 

[duke62]

Randy if that was the worst I'd love to see the best. That speech was real interesting. I'm using fuel by aquavitro now and it has most of the elements he talked about but no way to test for them but my corals are looking the best they have ever looked

 

[Widdy]

I think Unique Corals should be releasing the Triton Method soon in the US. There's also GlennF's DSR method, but info is limited unless you can read Dutch. :happysad:

 

[lnevo]

Cool the presentation is on Triton elements? Manhattan Aquariums posted they were doing that..i definitely like the idea of quality testing to figure out what trace elements we need. They are too minuscule for me to trust home test kits on that stuff and long term I've always worried about those levels...

 

[Widdy]

Yup, UC's forum on R2R has some more info. I think I saw something on Facebook that they're releasing it in 9-10 days. Should be interesting...

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/uni...freeing-our-minds-preconception-not-easy.html

 

[lnevo]

Yeah. I love the concept.

And testing is free supposedly! Thats really sweet.

 

[duke62]

Going to be awesome. I would love to see exactly what's going on in my tank.

 

[prattreef]

Testing is not free, though perhaps they will offer free testing for a limited time to get people going. It will be $40 for a full panel, I believe, which is very reasonable. I have a more than rudimentary, though less than full understanding of the "method" and there are a lot of questions. For hardcore science geeks the testing methods are less than satisfactory, but for hobbyist purposes they are much better than the alternatives.

So, what do you do with these test results? Is there any research that documents high or low levels of any of these minor elements have an impact on coral growth or health? If so, what are these levels? And how do we deal with these imbalances if we decide they do matter? The Triton answer is to buy their salt and/ or supplements And after you supplemment how do you know you have corrected the imbalance? More testing..... I think you get the picture.

The guy has a drop dead gorgeous tank using this method. I tend to think like gorgeous Zeo tanks etc. that it has more to with the aquarist than the method. I'm sure this will work great for some, and I can def. see the value for really screwed up systems, but call me skeptical of some major revolution in reefkeeping. I guess we'll see soon enough.

 

[NYreefNoob]

funny part is there will always be something new and supposedly better, ive seen a lot of tanks over the last decade lps and sps dominated tank's that were off the charts nice, they did water changes, used a calcium reactor and doses magnesium and nothing else, I truelly think we are trying to hard and over looking the simple

 

[Widdy]

I'm excited for it. The tried and true method of waterchanges has certainly worked well in the course of the hobby. But I've always wondered why there so many variations of salt mixes, when majority of them are synthetic?

Would running the same test on NSW give them/us the baseline of parameters to achieve?

 

[duke62]

If we can get better why not keeps coming up with new ways to do things. Maybe one of these methods will put a end to STN and rtn. There is still so much to learn and the evolution of the hobby is getting better and better

 

[prattreef]

I think the target is NSW levels.

 

[TUSI]

I use to send my water to be tested at aquarium water testing which was owned I believe aqua medic. Tests were never accurate, I actually sent two sets of water samples from my aquarium with two different accounts and the results were different from each other when it was the same water. So I'm sorry but I lost trust with companies that test water. Till they receive the water it's at least a day, then it sits till you get your turn, depending how busy they are. How can saltwater sit in a tube for two or three days and test accurately.

 

[NYreefNoob]

tusi I agree, as some type of algea, bacteria ect woud start to form.

 

[prattreef]

Tusi, I think the method they use --ICP --is far more accurate and less susceptible to tainting than anything we have had access to before. That is my understanding at least from folks who really know. Some of these same folks are still not 100% thrilled with the testing methodology, but personally I don't think the testing part is going to be an issue for hobbyists.

 

[TUSI]

I can't agree more randy.